Botswana Votes 2019: Two-Party Competition and the Khama Factor

Abstract

The October 2019 Botswana national election, which returned the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) to power for the twelfth consecutive time, was dominated by a man whose name was not even on the ballot: former President Ian Khama. In an unprecedented move, Khama had broken with the BDP, a party he had led as president for 10 years, to form a new political party and to campaign against his successor, President Mokgweetsi Masisi. A highly controversial figure, Khama was none the less embraced by the main opposition coalition, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC). Although the ‘Khama factor’ helped the UDC in some parts of the country, the decision to work with Khama proved overall to be a major strategic blunder by the opposition, which suffered a decline in its vote share and its representation in parliament. Paradoxically, despite the continued electoral dominance of the BDP, the election reinforces a long-standing trend toward the emergence of a competitive two-party system in Botswana.